Antonio Luna

Antonio Luna (29 October 1866-5 June 1899) was Chief of Staff of the Philippine Revolutionary Army from 22 January to 5 June 1899, succeeding Artemio Ricarte and preceding Emilio Aguinaldo. He was assassinated by a subrodinate during the Philippine-American War, during which he had led effective resistance against the United States occupation forces, established the Philippine Military Academy at Malolos, and created an elite sharpshooter unit.

Biography
Antonio Luna de San Pedro y Novicio Ancheta was born in Manila, Luzon, Philippines on 29 October 1866, the son of a merchant family of partial Spanish ancestry. He was well-educated in both the Philippines and Spain, where he joined the Freemasons alongside several other liberal Filipino expatriates, and he became an active scientific researcher during the early 1890s. In 1894, he became chief chemist of the Municipal Laboratory of Manila, and, while he initially favored reform over revolution, he and his brothers were interned by the Spanish in 1896 after being wrongly accused of being Katipunan members. In 1897, Antonio was exiled to Spain, where he was imprisoned at the Carcel Modelo in Madrid. He was released in December 1897, upon which he began to study military science. In July 1898, he returned to the Philippines, and he was one of the first Filipino officers to see action in the Philippine-American War that year. On 26 September 1898, President Emilio Aguinaldo appointed Luna Chief of War Operations and made him a Brigadier-General, in part due to his concern that Luna would sabotage the independence cause by peacefully arranging for the American military authorities to discipline their unruly occupation soldiers. In October 1898, Luna established a military academy at Malolos, and several veteran officers became instructors at his academy and helped to train new soldiers for the cause. During the 1899 Battle of Manila, Luna was responsible for leading stiff resistance to Arthur MacArthur's US Army forces, and he created an elite sharpshooter unit. On 2 June 1899, Luna was summoned to Cabanatuan to form a new cabinet, but, upon his arrival on 5 June, he was confronted by Captain Pedro Janolino, whom he had disarmed for insubordination. Janolino attacked Luna with a bolo knife, wounding him in the head, and he was then stabbed 30 times. His last words condemned his killers, shouting "Cowards! Assassins!" His death greatly undermined the Philippine revolutionary cause's resistance to the American occupiers.